Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 17, 11:09 PM ET

TOL max pain

Spot (delayed)$133.7
Max pain · Fri, Dec 18$140+4.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$16.1±12.0% by Fri, Dec 18
Put/Call OI0.911K puts / 1K calls
Call wall$150largest call OI
Put wall$140largest put OI
IV3034.6%30-day implied vol
Net GEX−$54Kper 1% move

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Nov 20$135+1.0%33d
Fri, Dec 18$140+4.7%61d
Fri, Jan 15$130-2.8%89d
Fri, Mar 19$140+4.7%152d
Thu, Jun 17$110-17.7%242d
Fri, Sep 17$110-17.7%334d
Fri, Jan 21$130-2.8%460d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot14065100135170205240$11M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 140 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot1406595125155185230309309
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)TOL open contracts per strike for Fri, Dec 18.

Open-interest change — building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration — the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot140659512515518523033
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot6510013517020524089%31%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 35.9% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Dec 18

spot65100130160190240+$95K−$95K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Dec 18

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.97-0.011000.00340.05-0.01-0.04
0.94-0.021050.00520.07-0.02-0.06
0.91-0.031100.00750.09-0.03-0.09
0.86-0.041150.01040.12-0.04-0.14
0.80-0.051200.01350.16-0.05-0.20
0.72-0.051250.01660.19-0.06-0.28
0.63-0.061300.01900.21-0.06-0.38
0.54-0.061350.02020.22-0.07-0.48
0.44-0.061400.02010.22-0.07-0.58
0.34-0.061450.01880.20-0.06-0.68
0.27-0.051500.01670.18-0.06-0.77
0.20-0.041550.01410.16-0.05-0.84
0.15-0.041600.01150.13-0.04-0.90
0.11-0.031650.00910.10-0.03-0.95
0.08-0.021700.00710.08-0.02-0.98

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 32 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot50801101401702007680
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot50801101401702002K2K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 9K call contracts, 14K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: TOL workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk